Who would you be without your story?

This question comes from one of my favorite spiritual mentors, Byron Katie.

But if I answer this question honestly, I get two different answers.

Without my story, I am free and liberated. But without my story, I don’t have a sense of self, which is incredibly scary. Like death, almost.

Where I am in my personal spiritual development, I need a sense of self. I need an ego. One day I may not, but right now, I do. So I’m not willing to go all the way here with Katie’s encouragement to lose my entire story.

What I am willing to do, however, is to take a look at the stories that I’m telling myself that are causing me suffering. I don’t mind losing those. That’s probably a good place to start.